Sam's halfway house for wayward superheroes
by Falazure
Summary: Sam's not exactly sure how his life turned out this way, but he can't say he minds.


Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing.

I've been rolling around in Sam/Natasha feelings as of late and I wanted to write something for them. I also wanted to try writing something with the Cap team as well so this is a bit GEN as well as being shippy. (There is also a small amount of background Steve/Bucky in this as well).

Un-betad so any mistakes are my own.

* * *

The first time Natasha visited his house she had just gotten back from a long overseas trip and needed a place to crash. It just so happened to be a bad night for Bucky too.

Him and Steve had found Bucky months ago in Spain, well more like Bucky had found them. He'd turned up at their hotel looking exhausted and asked if he could stay with them, Steve hadn't even waited for him to finish the question before saying yes.

Since then they had been living in Sam's not-exactly-big-enough-for-three-people house and things were mostly okay.

Bucky had a lot of nightmares. He often woke himself up screaming, and while Steve would always pretend that he never had them himself Sam had seen him up in the middle of the night staring mindlessly at the TV often enough to know that was bullshit.

Today had been even worse than usual for Bucky, and that was saying something.

At first Sam had thought that it was his usual screaming nightmares that he had every few nights these days. But his noises became a jibbering mess of foreign languages that had Sam immediately worried. Bucky had never spoken in his sleep before, nothing that was discernable as words anyway.

But this was an almost constant stream of babbling nonsense that was sounding more and more panicked as the moments wore on.

Sam had been up and at the door of his room within seconds, but he didn't even get to pull the door open before an almighty crash sounded down the hall and two pairs of feet pounded heavily on the floor.

Sam wrenched his door open just in time to see Steve careen into the wall next to his bedroom and before either of them could move Bucky had sprinted off into the living room, Steve following quickly after.

Sam darted after him down the stairs and froze as he hit the landing. He'd expected to find his front door torn off and Bucky gone, or even him and Steve grappled together. But instead Bucky was curled up in the far corner of the living room behind the small gap between the TV and wall with Natasha crouched in front of him and talking in a low voice.

She was in pyjamas and the blanket and pillow he had set out for her before he had gone to bed were sprawled on the floor, no doubt in her haste to reach Bucky before he did any damage to himself or anyone else.

He half expected her to be speaking Russian but instead she was talking soothingly at him in English, reminding him where he was and why he was there.

After a few moments she reached out her left hand towards him and placed it gently on top of his right forearm, the gesture seemed to be met with acceptance as he nodded at her though he still kept his gaze to the ground.

Natasha turned around at that and nodded to Steve, who had been stood ramrod straight and with a look of absolute anguish on his face. It was the face of someone who desperately wanted to help but knew that they couldn't and Sam felt for the guy, he didn't even know how he'd react if it had been Riley in the same state as Bucky.

Natasha gestured him over and Steve practically ran to Bucky's side but held himself in check when he got close, he knew as they all did that Bucky didn't take well to being touched without his express permission.

Steve took Natasha's place as she moved away and when he placed his hand where hers had been Bucky looked up, his face blank but his eyes were tight with guilt.

" I'm sorry Steve..." His voice was so quiet that Sam barely heard it and he was shaking a little where he sat. Steve only shifted to make himself comfortable on the floor in front of Bucky, his thumb rubbing against Bucky's skin.

" It's okay." That seemed to settle something in Bucky as he moved forwards ever so slowly and almost tentatively nudged himself into Steve's personal space. Sam heard Steve huff out a small, strained laugh before he tugged Bucky against him and they settled together on the floor.

Sam let out a breath and dragged a hand down his face, thankful that no serious damage had been done to anyone, even if he was going to have to find a new door for Bucky's room. He nearly jumped when he noticed that Natasha was standing next to him, her eyes locked onto Steve and Bucky.

" He had a nightmare, one of the worst he's had in a long time and he couldn't snap out of it." Natasha told him, answering the question that he hadn't been going to ask.

" I get it." Sam knew better than anyone how non-liner recovery could be. One day you'd be fine, feel like everything was going to be okay and then suddenly something would send the world spinning on it's axis and you couldn't breathe. He just hoped that Bucky wouldn't be too downtrodden by this, wouldn't think that he wasn't ever going to be okay again because he'd had a bad night.

But that was a talk that was best left till later and Sam really didn't feel like splitting up the mutual love-in going on in his living room.

* * *

The second time was several months later and the day before Steve's birthday.

The other man had told the three of them that he didn't want anything fancy for his birthday, no parties, no elaborate gifts. Just a quiet night in with his friends and maybe a beer or two, even if he couldn't get drunk off of them.

Naturally Natasha had chosen to completely ignore everything he had said and had enlisted both Sam and Bucky into baking a birthday cake for him, complete with 98 wax candles to put on top.

(Bucky hadn't thought it was funny but Natasha had just waved the bag of candles in his face while smiling and declaring him too old to understand jokes anymore).

The thing is though that none of them knew how to actually bake a cake. Sure Sam could whip up almost anything you could throw at him from a cookbook. But him and baking? That had never been a talent he'd picked up.

His scorched cookie batch from last Christmas could attest to that.

But he was a team-player and he was sure that between the three of them they could figure out how to bake one simple cake.

Four hours, two burnt cakes and a kitchen covered in frosting later Sam had to rethink that particular idea. Because growing up as a child-assassin had left Nat with the culinary skills of a dead pigeon and while Bucky could actually cook, he was more familiar with simple dishes like mashed potatoes and boiled fish. Cake-baking was _not_ his forte, that and he couldn't knead dough for shit since it got clogged up in the metal seams on his arm.

They had since given up trying to make their own cake and Bucky and Sam were busy cleaning up the kitchen while Natasha had run out to buy a store-bought cake instead. It might not have been the labour of love that she wanted it to be but it's the thought that counts and Sam knows that Steve will care about that more than anything.

" He always hated his birthday y'know?" Sam looked up at Bucky as he spoke, a little surprised, he didn't talk about his past with anyone but Steve most of the time. But he was opening up a little more each day. " Not because of the fireworks or anything." Bucky continued unprompted. " He just hated having people make a fuss over him, didn't think there was anything _to_ fuss over." And from the tone of Bucky's voice Sam could tell that he disagreed with Steve's opinion _greatly_ on that matter.

" Explains why he's not at the tower." Sam knows that Tony would have made a huge song and dance out of Steve's birthday, especially since it was on the 4th July. He would have gotten Steve his own personal firework display complete with a big gaudy cake and possibly sparklers. And they all know that big and flashy was how Tony showed his affection to those he cared about but it would have made Steve uncomfortable, regardless of the good-intentions behind it.

Bucky nodded at him.

" He likes things like this to me more low-key yanno? Quiet and simple." Sam smiled at that, understood the need for a bit of piece and quiet and out of everyone he knew Steve deserved that. Hell they all did.

The front door slammed, and Sam knew it was courtesy on Natasha's part because she made a game out of getting him to wonder how she got into his house, she came waltzing around the corner bearing a wide grin and a large bright pink box.

" What, is _that_?" Sam asked while staring down at the box she placed on the table and grabbed a knife from the drawer so she could open it.

" This." She replied, pulling the cake out and grabbing the candle bag. " Is Steve's cake." Sam saw Bucky come up to stand on her other side and frowned down at the cake as he clearly tried to figure out what exactly a 'Hello Kitty' was.

Sam watched her for a moment as she started placing the candles on the cake, shared a look with Bucky over her head and shrugged before helping her. Steve wouldn't mind really, and hopefully it'd get a laugh out of the guy, that would be more than worth it.

* * *

The third time was a month later after they had decided that Saturday's were movie-nights.

She still made a game out of entering and exiting his house with every lock intact and un-tampered with, a game Bucky had started to join her in and really Sam didn't need two ex-assassins messing with him. It didn't help that Steve only seemed to encourage Bucky, and wouldn't historians get a kick out of that, turns out ladies and gentlemen that Captain America is actually a little shit.

Sam didn't really mind though, it was good to see Bucky smile and laugh.

" Ugh, those two are disgusting." Sam turned his head towards Natasha as she settled on the couch next to him with a beer and nodded at the two men they could see through the partition in the wall to Sam's kitchen.

Steve and Bucky were on washing up duty tonight and were currently horsing around a bit as they cleaned and dried the plates. Bucky kept nudging Steve in the side and otherwise prodding him while Steve had proceeded to take his soapy hands and ruffle them through Bucky's now-short hair.

It had been a change that Bucky had wanted to make shortly after Steve's birthday, had decided that he felt at home enough in his body to make those kinds of decisions and none of them had questioned him. Hell Bucky could have gone and grown a full beard and died it _blue_ and they wouldn't have cared.

Bucky let out a yelp as soapy water ran under his shirt and Steve's obnoxious laughter filled the room. " They should just get it over with and make-out already." Her eyes glinted wickedly as soon as she had spoken.

" _No_." Sam waved a hand in front of her face and shook his head. " I know what you're thinking and no, no matchmaking." She pouted and leaned her head against his shoulder.

" But they need my help." Her voice was all mock-innocence and Sam couldn't help but laugh a little at it.

" No they don't, if anything's gonna happen with them they need to sort it out on their own alright?" He nudged her with his shoulder slightly. " Leave them be." He got an overdramatic sign for that as Natasha slumped against his side.

" But I'm boooooooored." She whined, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

" Well then find something _else_ to do." Sam told her blinking in surprise as she sat up suddenly and stared at him for a few moments before she leaned slowly into his space, hovering her lips over his own.

Her eyes flickered down to his lips and she lingered in place for several moments before the noise of Steve and Bucky coming into the room startled her into springing back to settle at his side again. She took a quick swig of beer and avoided looking at anyone in the room.

Sam was too stunned to move and his face must have given something away because Steve gave him an odd look as he put the movie in and settled in the corner of the couch.

" You alright?" He asked, taking the bowl of popcorn from Bucky as the two of them sat next to each other and Sam swallowed once before shaking his head.

" Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Think my beer's just a little flat is all." He lied and Steve shrugged as he leaned back to watch the movie, and Sam noticed how his arm _just_ so happened to end up on the back of the couch behind Bucky.

Sam jumped a little as a finger prodded him in the side and he looked down to see Natasha give him a small smile before mouthing 'Sorry' at him. He shrugged back at her, figured she had been messing with him anyway when she snuggled herself further into his side and rested her head against his shoulder.

And that. Well, that was something.

Sam just quirked an eyebrow and settled back to watch the movie, a small smile playing over his lips.

* * *

After that she started coming over whenever she felt like it, sometimes to pull him out to a restaurant she had wanted to try, other times to just chill.

This time it was a quiet Thursday evening. He had the house to himself for a change since Steve and Bucky had decided to go and see a movie together.

He's pretty sure it had been a date since he had seen Steve fussing with his button-up shirt and hair for over an hour while Bucky had been in and out of the bathroom all afternoon. He hadn't been able to settle on a shirt to wear until Sam had grabbed him and told him to go with the dark blue one, it brought out his eyes and while Sam had fended Natasha's meddling off he figured helping out a little didn't count.

Besides he considered it a win when they had barely looked away from each other and when Steve had asked him if he wanted to come along, Sam hadn't been stupid enough to take them up on the offer. They needed some time alone so they could work out their shit together.

So there he was, ass on the couch as he watched Storage Hunters and he was considering what to cook for dinner when Natasha ambled into the room with a pizza box in one hand and a two bottles of Pepsi in the other.

" I would ask how you keep getting into my house without a key or setting off the alarm, but I've got a feeling I don't want to know." She grinned at him and set the pizza box and drinks on the table before walking into the kitchen to grab a few plates.

" The less you know the happier you'll be Wilson." She replied as she sat down next to him and opened up the pizza box, pulling out a slice as she made herself comfortable. " So what are we watching?"

" The fine art of storage bin auctioning." He told her as he pulled out his own slice, watching as the people on the TV became agitated in that fake-drama way that he hated in reality shows but still watched despite it. It was a sickness, he was willing to admit that.

" I like the lady in the fur-coat." Sam could only nod and agree but he stilled a little as Natasha curled up against him, a slight frown pulling at his face.

" Natasha?" She looked up at him and he could almost swear that she looked nervous. " What's going on exactly?" He motioned between them and she opened her mouth only to shut it again, her lips pulling tight at the edges.

She put her plate on the coffee-table and sat up on her knees, rubbing her hands together and seemed to steel herself before she looked at him again. Sam sat still as she moved forward, trailing her fingers up against his cheek as she cupped his face with one hand and pressed a kiss to the opposite cheek.

Sam sucked in a breath as her lips moved, pecking across his skin until she hovered over his mouth and held there for a few moments before pressing her lips to his. It wasn't anything more than a simple-chaste kiss but Sam pressed back into it all the same, running the back of one hand down her cheek before they broke apart and she ducked her head a little.

" I'm." Her voice was quiet. " I'm not so good at this..." Waving a hand between them. " People, I mean. Well no, I'm good figuring people out and playing them but..." She looked back up at him, a small smile playing against her lips. " I'm not good at keeping them close, at letting anyone in because I didn't for so long but, I like you. And... I'd like to try this out." She tilted her head at him. " If you're amenable that is of course." Sam couldn't help but grin at her.

" I'm sure as hell amenable to that." And seeing Natasha's face split into wide, genuine smile was the _best_ thing he had seen all day.

" Good." Her grin hadn't faded at all and she leaned in to kiss him once more on the lips before picking up her discarded pizza plate and settling back into his side. Sam took in a deep breath and leaned back against the couch as he wrapped an arm around Natasha's shoulders, she quirked an eyebrow at that but didn't push him off.

They settled down to an evening of terrible reality TV and Sam felt warm wave of happiness settle over him.

(The peace was shattered two hours later when Bucky and Steve stumbled into the house with their mouths glued together and Sam and Natasha screamed in mock-despair as they pelted the two with pillows until they scrambled out of sight).


End file.
